Deerly Loved....

Happy Sunday everyone!!  It's been a busy few days with Thanksgiving!!  I'm up late again tonight finishing up a couple things before I can actually get BACK to creating tomorrow and Monday.  As usual... the Gilliland family had a fabulous Thanksgiving.  We even had my mother-in-law come by for dinner.  Normally, we eat alone... just our immediate family.  But this year, she was in town with her sister and brother-in-law.  Sadly, he was taken to hospice and she had been staying there around the clock.  So, my hubby asked her to come by for a break and let her know she could always spend the nights here and rest a bit and grab a hot shower.  And, she took him up on the offer and stayed for dinner.  

While she was here she was telling me her brother-in-law was using a folded up dollar bill for a book marker and that her sister had taken it from him because she needed it.  Ha!  And, thus, my bookmark was created for him.  She had told us they were taking him from hospice to live with his daughter and son-in-law and he was having a hard time with that since he would no longer be able to look out his window at home and watch the deer in the woods.  Well... I had just the stamp set to bring his deer back.  :-)  Theresa Momber's, "Life is Good" set was just the ticket.  I've always loved this set myself with my dad being a deer hunter and I am getting tons of use from it!  :-)

I began my bookmark with a craft tag I had in my stash.  I added some Dylusions Lime Ink to the bottom and topped it off with some Sunflower Glimmer Mist. Just enough sparkle on top.  Next I stamped the trees, deer and sentiment n Memento Ink.  I added a few Copper Nail Heads to the lower corner and some Tim Holtz Gears to the right.  Just for a bit more texture.  Then I found a yellow plastic "paper clip" which I added to the top and tied on some yellow and brown twine to add a little "poof" at the top.. not a flower mind you... that's not at all MANLY.  Hee

I hope Tom enjoys the bookmark and I am sure his wife won't be taking it any time soon.  Tom isn't doing so well and his doctors told him to go home and enjoy what life he has left instead of lying around in a hospice which I think is fabulous advice for anyone who is not bed-ridden.  I know it lifted his spirits to be able to leave but I also know he is not able to stay home with just his wife caring for him and maybe the little deer on the bookmark will bring just a bit more happiness to his day as he relaxes to read.  I certainly hope so.  

Tomorrow, I plan to create with some NEW Gina K Designs stamps!!! Woot!!  Oh stay tuned, I'll be sharing them all soon when we have the Design Team Blog Hop.  Keep your eyes open!  :-)  Until then... thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!!! *HUGS*

Winter Warmth

Ok... NOW it's time to get warm and cozy!!!  Yep... I finished eating Thanksgiving dinner and I'm full of good food and tomorrow we'll put up the Christmas tree!!! Oh yayy!!  AND... one of my favorite stamp sets EVER reminds me of warm cozy sweaters... Tami Mayberry's "Simple Snowflake".  I LOVE this set and I have no idea what it is but this lovely horizontal patterned stamp just reminds me of sweaters and I LOVE it!!!  Ha! 

My card starts with Pure Luxury Fresh Asparagus.  I added a layer of the Paper Temptress', "Ruche" tan paper.  My DP is from Simple Stories. My snowflake/heart border was stamped on white and I used my Memento inks.  I used a snowflake punch and added Diamond Stickles to them.  I distressed the edges of the Ruched paper and added some Tim Holtz Distress Ink, "Vintage Photo" along the edges.  

My card today was for the Outlawz Twisted Thursday challenge to use snow, frost or glitter on your card.  I hope you play along for a chance at a fabulous prize!!  You have until next Wednesday to enter your card.  

I hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving and that you were able to enjoy some good food, good times and family.  Tomorrow I plan to create and hopefully get some new Gina K Design stamps in the mail.  Woot!!  *wink*  Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day!!! *HUGS*

Rockin Birthday!!!

Happy Tuesday everyone!!! I'm COUNTING on it!!  Yes, you heard me right... I'm counting on this being a VERY happy Tuesday!!  Today is my baby girl's 11th birthday!!!  She had such a bad weekend with her slumber party plans and I just NEED today to be a good day for her.  THAT is all I can ask.  We have fun turkey cookies she's taking to school for treats and juice boxes.  She's pretty excited to take them and I can't wait to share the "chocolate chip cookie" cake we got her... shhhh she doesn't know... hee hee... AND the "extra" gifts we got, with her tonight!  :-)

My image is a fun MayzyArt image and soooo reminds me of my daughter.  She's ALWAYS hooked to her iPod and if not that, she's got the earplugs in her computer.  :-)  She LOVES to dance and trying to be "in style" is truly her thing.  

My card base is Pure Luxury Turquoise Sea layered with some Black Onyx and then some Green from the Carnival Card Stock Collection.  I used my Cuttlebug Allegro embossing folder for half the Green card stock.  I colored my image with Copic markers and then added some punched stars and my circles are from Tami Mayberry's set, "Simple Snowflake".  I added a few SRM stickers to two of the cirlcles and a simple "celebrate" to the top.  I used Diamond Stickles on the stars, the shirt and on the sentiment "o"s in the arrow.  

And... just for added measure... let me show you Emily's new boots she got for her birthday... 

Now isn't this girlie card just perfect for her? LOL  She HAD to have some combat boots and was more than thrilled to open them!!  Happy Birthday, my baby girl... I love you more and more every day!! *HUGS*

Thanks for stopping by!!!  *HUGS*

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WIN WIN - for you AND Me!!!

Good morning everyone!!  Today I am soooo excited to share a FABULOUS tool with you that I found to help me get my scrapbooking done!!  AND, the best part... it's EASY, QUICK and... YOU can get it too!!!  But what's even better than that???? I can help you get the same thing I did for LESS!!!  Yep... I'm giving away some "bucks" today!!!  Now I don't know about you but when someone tells me we should do something, quick, easy, fun AND cheap... oh yeah, I'm ALL IN!!!  

My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Software is what helped me to create the awesome and fun page you see above AND the COORDINATING pages you see below!!!!  OMGosh, I got so excited just working with this software!!!  I mean honestly, I am not into reading instructions, messing with things until I CAN get them right or figuring out where to put what on my pages.  BUT... with My Memories software... I COULDN'T STOP making pages!!!!!!  Ha Ha  Seriously, it's THAT much fun!!!  

To create all of these pages, I simply opened the software, chose "Create New Album from Designer Template", picked out WHICH template album template I wanted to use and BAM... ALL the pages that coordinated loaded onto my window.  Then I clicked on insert photo and OH MY GOSH, it inserted each picture where it should be on each page!!! It was done!!  

Truly, I figured I'd do one, maybe two pages, but after I did the first one and saw how easy and adorable the first page was, I couldn't stop!!!  Not only did I do these pages for my daughter's book... I finished about 3 pages for my son's book.  Woot!!!  

But here's the really awesome news... if you, like me, are looking for a fast way to get your scrapbooking done, you can head over to My Memories and look at all their fabulous templates and designs.  THEN... come back here and tell me which is your favorite.  There are sooo many!!!  THEN, on Friday, November 23, 2012 and I will pick a winner who will receive a FREE copy of  My Memories!!!!  My Memories already offers tons of FREE templates, papers and design items as well and believe me, I loaded up!

- If you’d like to link to their Facebook, Twitter or blog, that would be great as well! You could even follow them for extra entries to the contest.

Blog- http://blog.mymemories.com/
Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/pages/MyMemories/140359372717593
Twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/mymemoriessuite

You will definitely love all the designs you can choose from and it seems they cover every possible event in a person's life.  So, what are you waiting for???? Head over to My Memories and find your fav then come back and leave a message!!!  Remember, you have until Friday, Nov. 23rd to enter.  Tell your friends!!  Oh... and I have a special prize in store for those who didn't win so remember to come back and check on Nov. 23rd!!!  Hee 

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous Tuesday!!! *HUGS*

Wings & Glittering Hope...

Happy Thursday everyone!!  I hope you are all are having a good day.  And if it was a bad one for you yesterday, as it so appeared (to me anyway) to be for LOTS of people on Facebook... after the election results and all, I pray that today finds you calmer and in good spirits.  Lots angry people out there but I suspect plenty of happy ones as well.  Soooo... I decided we all need a little bit of "Hope".  My card today uses I Brake For Stamps, "XL Butterfly".  I LOVE LOVE butterflies and this one just takes the cake for me!!  I have had it for awhile now and truly been dying to get to it and get it colored up!!

My card was created for the Outlawz Challenge, Twisted Thursday.  Your design should include "wings and glitter".  Be sure and join us and enter for a chance to win!!!

My card base is from Papertrey Ink, "Blueberry Sky" and I layered it with some "Spring Rain" which I ran through my Cuttlebug using the "Polka Dots" embossing folder.  I added a strip of Patterned Paper from the "Hello Sunshine" pack.  I added a 4" doily for a bit of texture and then some rhinestone flourishes.  My butterfly is stamped on Cryogen White card stock from the PaperTemptress.  I colored it with my Copic markers and cut it out before popping it up on my card.  My little "Hope" embellishment I've had for a very long time and just needed a reason perfect setting to use it.  Today was that day!  

I hope you have a great day and as always, I thank you for stopping by!!  *HUGS*

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That's NOT a phone call!! Is it???

When I saw this adorable image from the Saturated Canary called, "Secrets", I immediately had to think of my sweet friend, Suzanne Dean.  If you know Suzanne.. you know she does NOT talk on the phone.  Nosirree... not for her!!  She's a HUGE texter though.  And the funny thing... I NEVER thought of myself as anyone who was much of a texter at all... until Suzanne came along.  Oy vey! (As she would say... LOL)  

I use to think kids were crazy with all that texting.  But... nope... one "talk" with Suzanne and you realize.. holy moly, my fingers are gonna get a workout!!! LOL  But I admit... I've tested her a time or two... oh yes I have... don't tell me I "can't" do something... cause I'm sure gonna try!!! Hee Hee  But true to her word... nope... she never answered her phone... not once!  She's such a FB.  (NO I won't tell you why I call her that!)  AND... I want you to know... she HAS called me!!!! Uh huh... just last week... she called and sang!!!! Seriously!!!!  Sure.. go ahead and send her a message on Facebook and ask her... she sang loud and clear!!!  Even the dogs were howling! HA HA HA

But in honestly... Suzanne has become a great friend and I just HAD to do this card in resemblance of us. Hee

My card started with Virtual Pearl paper from the Paper Temptress.  I wanted a bit of a shine to it and thickness as well so I found this in my stash and knew it would be perfect.  Not to mention the "hues" of color that shine off it when put next to other colors.  My image was printed on Cryogen White paper and colored with my Copic markers.  I mounted them on some Patterned Paper from Gina K Designs, "Hello Sunshine" then mounted it onto some Pure Luxury Wild Lilac and then some Red Hot card stock.  My sentiment .... "Psst" is a typical "hello" from me when I text Suzanne.  Hee

Now since I decided to color these cuties in colors that Suz and I both like... and in our hair color too... hee... they were colors not often found together in many DP sets.  Soooo I took another piece of card stock and covered it in many strips of Washi tape that I had.  Just enough to give me the colors of our dresses.  :-)  Of course, I planned on Suz having the curly hair and me the short "bobbed" hair but my kids got the best of me and I put that dark brown Copic down on the wrong head... oh well.  SHE knows who she is! LOL  

It was fun working on these and the colors were even more fun to work with.  Thanks for stopping by today and I hope the rest of your week is all easy going from here!  *HUGS*

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Winter Warmth...

Sooooo who's ready for some snow?? OH!!! Did I say the "S" word??? OMGosh!!! So NOT my way to look at the next few months.  (Notice I didn't say the "W" word??!!! Hee) I am really enjoying playing with these adorable Chelsea Le Designs stamps!!  This little cutie is "Winter Avie" available at I Brake for Stamps along with the other Chelsea Le Designs.

My card base is Pure Luxury "In the Navy".  I added a layer of "Little Boy Blue" and some of that fabulous Patterned Paper Pack, "Blizzard".  I stamped my image on White and colored with my Copic markers.  I cut it out using my Spellbinders, Labels 4, before adhering with Pop Dots.  

I added a few snowflakes which I cut using my Silhouette Cameo and on the smaller snowflakes I added some Diamond Glaze and Crystal Galmour Dust.  

I'm not ready for the "white stuff" but I can't help love the shimmer and shine that comes with the season.  Thank you for stopping by today and no matter where you are... keep warm.... it's MY favorite season!  Hee Hee  *HUGS*

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Be ever Thankful...

I'm a bit behind on my postings and I apologize for that.  Somehow... and believe me I'm not thankful for clumsy fingers... I deleted a bundle of posts I had ready to go live over the weekend.  Oy!  Technology is great but there are times when you realize you take things for granted and think it's all working fabulously... WRONG!!!  But, regardless, I apologize for thinking things were all in order, as should have been, when in reality whether I'm on Facebook or even in my own personal e-mail folders, I SHOULD have known things were messed up somewhere.  My friend, Suzanne, would tell me I have serious "old-timers" issues. LOL  So today's posting is a bit late but I hope it's message remains important.  

With the recent Hurricane Sandy spreading it's destruction over the east coast, I find it hard to not be thankful.  Thankful that my family is safe, including my niece who lives in NY, thankful that there are still wonderful people in this country that no matter what will stand strong and persevere no matter what mother nature throws their way, thankful that even when I feel totally helpless in any situation, I know God will guide me and take care of what I truly need.  

With that in mind, I created the card above.  Not just a "dinner" thank you, but a thank you card.  I hosted the StampTV Oldies but Goodies challenge last week and my goal was for everyone to create a "thank you" card.  Seems as though we rarely get a thank you card these days.  Especially by way of snail mail.  As I said, my post should have run earlier but didn't so you're running out of time to participate in this particular challenge, but... there's still time if you want to play along.  You have until 8PM CST tonight to upload your card to the Gallery of StampTV.  

My card was created using Pure Luxury Black Onxy as the card base.  I layered on some Moonlit Fog and a bit more Black Onxy.  My DP is from the Patterned Paper Pack, "Poppy Prints".

I stamped the wine glass from Melanie Muenchinger's set, "A Charmed Life" and colored with my Copic markers then cut out and mounted with Pop Dots. 

I hope you either had a chance to enter the challenge and/or still do.  Plenty of time... no stress thank you card can be anything you like... just make sure it's a thank you.  

As always, thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous Monday!!! *HUGS*

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Wicked!!!!

Ahhh yes...it was a "wicked" last few days, that's for sure!!!  Today I'm sharing an image from Digital Delights by Louby Loo!  They are the sponsor this next couple weeks for the Color Me Creative Challenge which is an "anything goes with a twist of orange" challenge.  I used "Coral the Witch" for my card... isn't she cute with her witchy skin tone?! LOL

My card starts out with that YUMMY Pure Luxury Tomato Soup card stock... oh gosh I love this color!!!  I added paper from Authentique and my image is colored with my Copic markers.  I used Pop Dots to raise her up a bit off the card.  My sentiment is from Beth Silaika's, "Wicked" stamp set.  I added a few ribbon loops at the top and one at the side to finish off my card.

I hope you stop by Color Me Creative and play along.  The winner will get to Guest DT for CMC and win a $15 gift certificate from Louby Loo!  Join us and share some "orange"!  

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day.... it's FRIDAY!!!!!! *HUGS*

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Bountiful Blessings X 1,000 !!!!

Fall.... I LOVE it!!! The colors are so pretty and to me... it smells so fresh and crisp outside.  There was a time when I hated browns and oranges and golds but now... ohhhh I must say other than Spring, it's the prettiest time of the year!  Today my card was created for the Twisted Thursday Challenge over on The Outlawz Challenge site.  The twist was to make a Thanksgiving card.  How thankful can you be to have a bounty such as this to share on Thanksgiving???  

My card uses Melanie Muenchinger's, "Beyond Baskets", "Basket Additions" and "A Year of Borders".  And I must say... I think they work wonderfully together!!! 

My card begins with Pure Luxury Ivory card stock.  I added a layer of Kraft and then more Ivory on top.  I stamped my wheelbarrow and "bounty" on white and colored with Copic markers then cut out and added to the card using Pop Dots.  For the border I simply stamped it in Memento Rich Cocoa and then used my Copics to dot around it.  I really really like how this came out!  

I hope you join us over at the Outlawz for a challenge or two.  There's a new one every day!!

As a side note, I'd like to say that yesterday was my 1,000th blog post!!!!! OMGosh never EVER did I think I'd do this many posts when I first started my blog.  In fact... I had no clue WHERE to start with the blog.  Nor, was I even sure I knew HOW to write a post!!! LOL  But it certainly has been a lot of work  AND fun doing all the posts.  Mostly, I am thankful for the many friends I've met through my blog... YOU included!!!  It's been quite an adventure and I'm so glad and honored you chose to follow along and see where it goes!  But mostly, I'm thrilled you've stuck with me and that you leave me comments and let me know how I'm doing!  It's important, you know?  I'm the type who loves to learn and grow from everything I do so when you leave me a comment, I know you are enjoying what you see and that  all the work and preparation that goes into a post are appreciated.  

So I will close with a huge THANK YOU! for helping me to continue blogging and sharing my work with you!!! YOU are what makes it all worth while!!! *HUGS*

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